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ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

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Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#51

Post by nly »

inque3d wrote: post #39
nly wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very much in the same vein as Duktape[0]. It looks like Duktape is smaller and has a more useful standard library, but is slower and doesn't support ES2020 features. https://duktape.org/index.html https://bellard.org/quickjs/bench.html

Not just es2020, Duktape doesn't even support arrow functions and classes. QuickJS seems interesting, but I couldn't manage to compile it on Windows (without MSYS2).

c-smile (author of Sciter) maintains a MSVC compatible fork https://github.com/c-smile/quickjspp/

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#52

Post by kjksf »

inque3d wrote: post #39
nly wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very much in the same vein as Duktape[0]. It looks like Duktape is smaller and has a more useful standard library, but is slower and doesn't support ES2020 features. https://duktape.org/index.html https://bellard.org/quickjs/bench.html

Not just es2020, Duktape doesn't even support arrow functions and classes. QuickJS seems interesting, but I couldn't manage to compile it on Windows (without MSYS2).

You can use this fork for msvc support: https://github.com/c-smile/quickjspp

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#53

Post by est31 »

ninenines wrote: post #28

Couple of other alternatives https://github.com/patr0nus/DeskGap https://github.com/neutralinojs/neutralinojs Like many pointed out electron may be a beast but few important things like system tray, start on boot come inbuilt with electron.

These package the operating system's native web view, which has its own set of issues like inconsistency. Sciter on the other hand is its own HTML rendering engine.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#54

Post by jug »

wesamco wrote: post #38

checkout how conformant QuickJS is with the modern ES standards https://test262.report/ (especially compared with other engines developed by big teams and companies behind them) Fabrice Bellard is a genius, and I really don't like using this word.

Prodigies like him kind of scare me. I studied at the same place as where Adam Dunkels (behind e.g. uIP and Contiki, a networked OS requiring 30 KB RAM and 30 KB ROM despite a GUI) did and he was almost a mythological figure with stories of taking multiple classes at once with ease.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#55

Post by thimashmerkle »

ksec wrote: post #23
ptrott2017 wrote: post #14

Sciter is a very nice engine with a solid API/SDK and rock solid engineering behind it. For developers building efficient UI apps it can be a real alternative method to things like electron or as a lighter alternative to QT with QML script. However until now it was only available under commercial licence. Andrew Fedoniouk ( a.k.a. c-smile Sciter's original developer) has a kickstarter to fund open sourcing and suppor…

For $100K in total, a tiny marketing budget those companies could have shown some good will towards Open Source. I wonder if the author actually contacted those companies. That is less than $3K from each of those customers listed.

The snobbery and entitlement of this forum’s mob is getting ridiculous.

Crowds of snobbish people complain about electron and how “inefficient” it is, yet barely anyone wants to financially contribute to an alternative.

Poor op must have assumed they will get support for a brilliant alternative only to face a harsh reality: hn snobs wont lift a finger but instead leech on other people’s time and money to build tools for them.

This community is laughable. Electron is here to stay.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#56

Post by thimashmerkle »

Next time you complain about electron and pretend to be an open source fan, remeber the hn community is just an entitled snob crowd. Here is a decent alternative to electron yet not one will lift a finger to either sponsor or contribute to it. Now go back to your desk and pretend to be a contrarian, open source supporter and wanna be puritan.

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#58

Post by est31 »

NetOpWibby wrote: post #16
ptrott2017 wrote: post #14

Sciter is a very nice engine with a solid API/SDK and rock solid engineering behind it. For developers building efficient UI apps it can be a real alternative method to things like electron or as a lighter alternative to QT with QML script. However until now it was only available under commercial licence. Andrew Fedoniouk ( a.k.a. c-smile Sciter's original developer) has a kickstarter to fund open sourcing and suppor…

55 hours to go and not even a third of the goal completed. I’m an optimistic guy but I don’t see this happening. EDIT: I wouldn’t mind being wrong.

https://www.backerkit.com/projects/c-smile/open-source-scite...

It's a bit bleak indeed.

The "open-sourcing the sciter" post [0] has gained almost no traction, news coverage [1] etc. This hn thread is the first time I heard of this kickstarter myself.

I think with a bit of marketing, the goal is absolutely reachable. Also there are plenty of grants and foundations that support open source projects. It's likely that with the right application they'll donate the needed amount, but usually they work quite slowly. Likely won't happen in the remaining 53 hours.

[0]: https://terrainformatica.com/2020/09/07/open-sourcing-the-sc...

[1]: https://www.google.com/search?q=sciter+open+source&tbm=nws&s...

Re: ElectronJS alternative: SciterJS – HTML/CSS/JS in 4.5 MB executable

#60

Post by red_admiral »

ptrott2017 wrote: post #14

Sciter is a very nice engine with a solid API/SDK and rock solid engineering behind it. For developers building efficient UI apps it can be a real alternative method to things like electron or as a lighter alternative to QT with QML script. However until now it was only available under commercial licence. Andrew Fedoniouk ( a.k.a. c-smile Sciter's original developer) has a kickstarter to fund open sourcing and suppor…

This is the kind of project that I'd hope the Linux Foundation or similar could take an interest in financing too.

Until, at least, all major modern OSes come with a built in scriptable headless browser engine, which would be a game-changer. Something-like-electron-or-sciter where you don't have to download the runtime for each individual application.

Also, of course, not a walled garden: the windows "modern apps" store can sort of do this I think, but there are lots of good reasons not to go down that path.

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